P A R A D I S E BOOK 1
by EllieDragon
Summary: [TRIGGERS; ABUSE, MENTAL ILLNESS, BAD LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, GORE etc.] [on my Wattpad account; link is on my profile] please give this a chance! no pairing / summary inside / OC / possible OC x OC pairing in the late future if any / follows each episode with a few original chapters/scenes here and there / unedited / NO UPDATE SCHEDULE YET
1. FULL SUMMARY IMPORTANT INFO

Hey guys, so I've finally decided to come back to this, it's been a long time coming now but I finally feel ready to get back into writing after my long hiatus. If anyone is reading this who read it before then I'd recommend re-reading it if you wnated to continue to follow the atory again because somethings have changed. I'd really appreciate it if you's could let me know what you think, it would mean a lot to me! :) anywhoo here is the full summary, chapter 1 will be uploaded tonight as well and I will try to upload on a weekly basis, I'll update yous with a schedule when I get back into the groove, if I happen to disappear for a while again just gimme a shout and I'll come back :P))

Eden Rivers was a lost cause, having lost her brother, her only form of support from her abusive parents, Eden went on a mental decline. Her only solace from her parents was Rick Grimes, his son and wife and Shane Walsh, they were her true family. But when Rick gets shot and the Grimes family and Shane are no where to be found Eden struggles to deal with the new world until Rick finds her and they both go on their way to reuniting his family, together. Eden has a long road ahead of her with more ups than downs. Can she handle this new life? Or will it break her down?

[Book 1]

[Season 1 – 2]

TRIGGER WARNINGS – physical and mental abuse, sexual harassment (no rape), violence, gore, swearing, depression, sensitive topics. (I will * any chapters with the more serious warnings but please read cautiously if you are easily effected by any of these subjects)


	2. CHAPTER ONE

| **E** |  
 **_**

She is dragged into the King County Sheriff's Department, her hands cuffed behind her back, the hand on her arm belonging to Deputy Shane Walsh (otherwise known as Deputy "Dick-bag" in the mind of Eden –although it's not always confined to just her mind –especially when drunk, which it is very evident she is presently). She mumbles profanities under her breath, not being as discreet as she wishes, whilst stumbling slightly due to her _very_ recent inebriation of a _"half bottle"_ of vodka. Deputy Dick-bag – oh sorry Deputy Shane Walsh's hand on her arm is strong as he pulls her out of the back of the patrol car, slamming the door behind them as he pulls her along into the station, not caring about her drunken ability to walk, or therefore her lack of ability.

"Hey Deputy Dick-bag! Could you like maybe slow down a bit dude?"

"No, and I've told you before stop calling me that."

"Well, I would but Deputy Shane Walsh is just too much of a mouthful to say, whereas Deputy Dick-bag isn't ya know? I mean just listen to the beautiful alliteration of 'Deputy Dick-bag'" She says this with a huge smile on her face as she watches Shane's face crumple in annoyance. It just gets bigger as he tries to tell her off (key word being "tries"). "You know you love me."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Where on Earth did you get that notion from?" his face incredulous, but with a smile hinted on his lips, as he looks down at her. Eden wasn't small for her age, standing at 5ft 8" she was taller than most girls at the age of 17, but with Shane nearing 6ft, he had to look down to her.

Eden just smiles and winks as he pushes the door to the station open, a gust of warm air making her shiver in delight at being out of the cold wind when in just a navy camisole and some black shorts with fishnet tights underneath (not exactly cold weather appropriate). He pulls her over to the reception desk and signs in.

"Rick! Get your ass out here right now!" Shane yelled for the Sheriff, his partner and best friend, turning around to look at her, pointing his finger at her. "You've got some explaining to do missy."

"Is that so?" false curiosity soaks through her voice.

"Yeah that's so." He starts nodding his head maniacally.

Eden was about to respond when Rick walks into the room, sighing when he sees Eden there.

"What you done now Eden?" folding his arms as she opens her mouth to give an excuse when Shane interrupts her.

"Caught her vandalising property, and drinking vodka; the bottle nearly empty." Eden looks affronted as he says this.

"Oh, my life, I was not _"vandalising property"_ I was making _art,_ the vodka was letting my creative spirit free before you locked it back up. And, and the bottle wasn't _"nearly empty"_ , it was like half way down... at most." She looks between Rick and Shane, watching as they shared a look before Shane decided to take his leave, patting Rick on his shoulder as he walked through the station; "Good luck with this one today mate." As Shane disappears, Rick turns to a sheepish Eden, rocking on the balls of her feet as she waited for him to take her to his office like he normally does when dealing with her.

"He loves me really ya know."

"Is that so?"

"Yup, he can't get enough of me really."

"Keep dreaming sweetheart!" Shane shouts from behind the door he just walked through.

"See? He can't get enough." Rick just laughs, shaking his head as she smiles, gesturing to the door leading to his office.

"Come on, Eden." She walks by his side as he gently rests his hand on the small of her back, guiding her to his office. When inside he leads her to the sofa, helping her sit down and joining her on the opposite end. "What are we gonna do with you eh?"

He can practically see the figurative light bulb turn on above her head as she looks at him, positively glowing as she does so. "Take the cuffs off me please?" He rolls his eyes before doing as asked, her wrists slightly red from the metal digging into her skin. "Much appreciated Ricky"

Rolling his eyes (he seems to do this a lot when in the teens presence he realised), "Yeah yeah... I thought I told you to stay out of trouble? And now here you are arrested... again." She looks down as he says this, her smile dampening a noticeable fraction before returning to the way it was before, Rick noticing this, frowns slightly in concern for the girl.

"Yeah well, shit happens don't it?"

"Hey, watch your language," Eden looks slightly sheepish at this, he's the only one who makes her feel bad when she swears; "You do know that this tonight, and everything else you've done is being put down on your record. You do know that don't you?" Rick looks at her intently, trying to gauge her reaction which proves difficult as she averts her gaze, looking at her feet; shuffling them due to her nerves.

"I mean, it doesn't really matter though does it, at the end of the day."

"What d'ya mean? What about your college applications and job applications? Do you think it's gonna look good on you when you've been arrested multiple times for numerous accounts of underage drinking and vandalism?"

"Well no but it's not like I can even go to college or Uni after school anyway."

"Why not? What's stopping you?" This causes her to laugh without humour.

"It's not like my parents will pay for my tuition is it?" He frowns when she says this, he forgot her parents weren't in anyone's good books until she said this, "plus I mean come on Rick, I ain't got no proper family, no real friends, you're the only one who seems to give more than two shits about me and that's just because it's your job. Your _duty_." She blinks frantically, trying to stop her eyes from watering as she says this, but fails as one tear escapes and drops down on to her dirt covered black Dr. Martens, cleaning a line on her boot as it rolls down to the floor. Rick wipes his hands down his face and is about to talk when she suddenly keels over, groaning under her breath as the alcohol is finally catching up with her, he catches her before she can fall off the sofa.

"Woah woah, hey, you alright?" his hands gripping her shoulders as she slowly starts to turn pale; well, paler than she normally is anyway.

She takes a minute to collect herself, Rick waiting patiently, before shaking her head; "I'm really really drunk."

"Yeah I know, the amount of vodka you drank, I'm not surprised."

"... Rick?"

"Yeah Eden?"

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"You're wha- oh shit." He quickly gets up and grabs the bin by his desk, handing it to Eden as she starts to throw up. Rick rubs her back with one hand while holding her hair back while saying; "shhh, you're alright. That's it, just get it all out, there ya go." she puts the bin down, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand as Rick continues to rub her back, stopping to move the bin away from them. He looks over at her in concern as she curls up on the sofa, her arms wrapped around her knees. Her voice small, likened to a child, as she says his name. He responds with an equally as quiet "Yeah?".

"I don't wanna go home." Her eyes fill with tears as she looks up at him. The despair on her face kills him. He takes a moment before responding.

"How about you stay around mine again tonight yeah? Get a proper night's rest, sleep off the bottle of vodka-"

"Half a bottle."

"Right. Sleep off the "half a bottle" of vodka, sound good?" She nods lazily, already falling asleep, before she can though Rick gently gets her to stand on her feet, albeit unsteadily. They walk out together, Eden resting heavily on Rick as they make their way to the car. He searches for Shane as they leave. He calls him over when he sees him.

"What's up?" Shane eyes Eden in concern as he sees the odd dried tear stain on her flushed cheeks.

"You cover for me? I'm taking Eden to mine to sleep off the drink. You good"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." he nods at Rick, who reciprocates the action before looking at Eden. With a smirk on his face he decided to tease her a little: "Don't fall over Eden, wouldn't want you to ruin that demon face of yours, it's already scary enough to begin with."

He laughs as Eden is still aware enough to stick her middle finger up at him, whilst retaliating saying "Well at least I don't look like a Dick-bag, Dick-bag." her voice cracking, Shane just smirks again shaking his head at the teen as she stumbles off.

"Come on" Rick rolls his eyes _(again)_ as they joke around, putting his arm around her, he leads her out of the station and to his car at the end of the parking lot. The icy wind cutting any skin they have bared. It's only when they get inside the car does he notice that she is shivering due to her attire. Sighing, he takes his jacket off handing it to her to put on.

"Huh? What are you doing?" She looks at the jacket in confusion.

"I'm giving you my jacket?"

"I can see that... Why?"

"Because you're cold-"

"No, I'm not." She folds her arms in denial, blatantly ignoring the jacket draped across her legs. He raises an eyebrow at her lie.

"So, you have goose bumps for nothing and are shivering because you're not cold?"

She glares at him, putting the jacket on with a huff, struggling a little with the seat belt still being on causing the jacket to get stuck behind her. She finally figures it out, shooting daggers at the laughing Sheriff.

"See, that wasn't so hard was it?" he says with a smirk.

" _That wasn't so hard was it?_ " Eden mimics him in annoyance.

"Hey, don't make fun of me kid, I can still put you in jail ya know?"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead."

They sit in silence as they come to a stop at some traffic lights. Eden watching the red light glowing in the night sky. The street is practically empty, with only one other car on the opposite side of the road, its navy-blue paint camouflaging itself into the darkness from the night. She looks down at her hands, which are covered by the sleeves of the jacket he gave her, and clasps her fingers together, ringing them nervously. "Hey Rick?"

"What's up?"

"Why are you doing this?" Eden refuses to look up at him, instead giving the light changing from red to orange to green her full attention as he responds after giving her a quick smile.

"Because you're drunk off you head and you're a good kid who shouldn't be sleeping this off in a jail cell overnight."

His response causes Eden to scoff, taking him by surprise slightly. "If I'm such a _"good kid"_ then why do I keep doing things to get me arrested huh? Why's that?"

"Because you got the short-stick in life that's why? Maybe if you were given a different start at life then maybe this wouldn't be the case ya know? Maybe these vandalism acts and underage drinking wouldn't have been your life." He doesn't take his eyes off the road as he drives, giving her time to process what he's saying. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to a tune in his head. Frowning when Eden doesn't respond for a while he looks over to her and sighs when he sees her sound asleep, her head rolling off to the side against the window at an uncomfortable angle. Her auburn hair falling over her face like a veil. Smiling at the sleeping teen, he continues the drive home as quietly and smoothly as he can so as to not disturb her.

It's another ten minutes before he pulls into his driveway, he looks up to his house and spots the curtain from his living room parting to see his wife, Lori, looking out in confusion as to why he's home so early. Rick turns the engine off, getting out the car and walking around to the passenger side in order to get Eden out. He turns his head when he hears the front door opening, Lori's confusion dissipating when she sees the slumped form of Eden in the front set. Shaking her head, she walks back inside leaving the door open and readies the sofa with cushions and blankets, so Eden will have a comfortable place to sleep for when Rick brings her in.

Rick opens Eden's side of the car carefully so as to not scare her awake. Grasping her shoulder, he gently shakes her in an attempt to wake her up, saying her name softly. She only grumbles in her sleep, her head dropping onto her shoulder completely at this point. Exhaling, he carefully unlocks her seat belt and putting his arm under her legs and his other arm behind her back to carry her inside. Her head against his shoulder, he kicks the car door shut and locks it with the button on his key, walking inside his house, Lori closing the door behind him.

"Rick what are you-"

"Not now Lori, she just got to sleep." he whispers back to his wife, careful to not speak too loudly so he doesn't disturb Eden. Lori watches on in the doorway as he places her on the sofa gently, when she's situated he takes her shoes off for her and his jacket he gave her, instead wrapping her up in the beige blankets that Lori laid out for her. Just as he's about to pull away from her, Eden reaches out and grasps his wrist in her weak hand.

"G'night dad." Her hand drops off his after she says this, her mouth open slightly as she falls back asleep. Rick is momentarily stunned at this, looking at Lori in slight shock, she just smiles at him as though she expected this. He smiles slightly, looking back at Eden, giving her hand a slight squeeze and kissing her forehead.

"G'night sweetheart." giving the sleeping teen another quick smile, he stands up from his crouched position and walks upstairs with Lori after turning the light off.

As they reach the top of the stairs, Carl emerges from his room, "dad?" causing Rick to look up in slight surprise.

"Yeah Carl?" he says as Lori just continues her way back to their room, shutting the door after her.  
"Is Eden here again?" Carl asks, and inquisitive expression painted on his young face.

"Yeah she is. She's asleep on the sofa though so be quiet yeah?"

Carl responds with a bright smile saying "yeah okay" in response. "Hey Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"Is Eden okay?" a worried expression covering his previous one. Rick hesitates before answering.

"Yeah, yeah I think so. I hope so. G'night son." Rick replied.

"Good night dad." Rick smiles at his son, walking up to him and kissing his head just as he did Eden, before ruffling his hair and watching him go back to his room.

He walks into the room he shares with Lori when he sees her ready for bed with an annoyed expression on her face, but he stops her before she can get angry at him. "I know, I know, but I couldn't leave her the way she is in a cell overnight." He moves to the wardrobe, taking his work clothes off and getting ready for bed himself.

"But again Rick? Seriously? We can't keep doing this, it's not her house."

"I didn't know what else to do, it's not her fault. It's that godforsaken family of hers. If she was just given a proper role model; some proper guidance, then maybe she cou-"

"Could what Rick?" Lori's voice gradually increasing to a shout.

"Keep your voice down!" he whisper-shouts in retaliation.

"She could change her ways? Be a good kid? Stop drinking and vandalising property? Rick you can't do everything! Sometimes people are just a lost cause and there's nothing you can do to save them."

Her response causes Rick to exhale in annoyance. "Yeah, I get that, believe me I do. But she ain't a _"lost cause"_. I _can_ help her, and I _will_ help her. Even if that's just giving her a place to sleep at night and a person to talk to, I'll do it. I can't, with a clean conscience _not_ do this for her."

He forgot his own rule to not shout and ended up raising his voice as he got progressively angry at what his wife was saying. Neither of them realised their bedroom door was open and they had woken Eden up, who was now standing at the bottom of the stairs listening to every word they said. She can hear Lori sighing before having to strain her ears to hear Ricks wife say, "she's not your daughter" and for Rick himself to reply saying, "I know that." Eden sniffles as tears form in her eyes after listening to what had just been said. Putting her hand over her mouth to muffle them as she could hear Rick sighing near his bedroom door, only just now realising it had been open this entire time and could hear her crying. Cursing in his head, he shut the door and went to bed, his mind a whirlpool of thoughts making it difficult for him to do so.

Back downstairs, Eden could be seen sitting on the sofa, staring at her boots considering leaving his house and just going 'home'; the words _"lost cause"_ floating around her head on an infinite loop. Reaching a decision, Eden stood up and quickly put her boots on before she could change her mind. Tidying up their sofa, putting the cushions in a pile at the foot of the furniture and folding the blankets up as neatly as she could while rushing. She searched through the room, looking for a pen and paper, writing a quick " _thanks, Prick ;P_ "on a note for Rick, leaving it on the coffee table in plain sight. She moved to the front door opening it after finding the key and closing it loudly in order to alert them to the fact their door was open, leaving the keys in the door on the inside. Wrapping her hands around her bare arms, Eden ran her way to the nearest bus stop after finding $5 in her pocket for the travel fair. She didn't notice Rick looking out the front door frantically searching for her retreating form. She didn't hear him call out for her when he did spot her and didn't stop running when he walked to the front of his garden in just his bed clothes and bare feet to continue calling out after her. She didn't know he cursed himself and slammed the door shut after being unsuccessful. All she knew was that she needed to go home and not disturb the Grimes' any more than she already had. All she knew was that she was a burden and didn't want to way down these good people with her issues. She _didn't_ know that the apocalypse was around the corner. She didn't know that Rick would get shot. She didn't know that although she would finally be free from her pathetic excuse for parents, she would also become trapped by the monsters of the world, both human and zombie alike.

All she knew was that she, Eden Rivers, was a

 _ **lost cause.**_

 **WORD COUNT: 3,360  
[EDITED]  
_**


End file.
